Moto X & Moto G 2016 LEAK Online: Specs, Design & Release Date

Published19 April, 2016

It’s only been a day since the previous leak of Motorola’s 2016 portfolio (see below) and already there’s new information has come to light. Today, April 20, details of the Moto G4 Plus have cropped up on the web; previously there was some mention of the Moto G4 Plus by none other than consistently reliable Twitter tipster Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, who showed an image of the device, but you couldn’t see much of it. The latest leak is from @evleaks1 again and shows more of the phone, it’s a render of the handset and does look like an official product render, of the kind @evleaks has been known to publish before. The good news is we can see a full image of the front and back of the device and as with the regular Moto G4 it has a square fingerprint scanner and Motorola’s familiar camera rear assembly. However, at present no other information is known about the Plus model, including availability, release date, specs and price, so we don’t know what gives it the name; is it a bigger display? Or higher-end specs? We will have to wait to find out.

As of April 19, some more leaked images and details have emerged for the more affordable model in the range; the fourth edition Moto G. The images have appeared via nowhereelse5.fr and give us the clearest look yet at the next-gen Moto G. Keeping in-step with current market trends, the Moto G4 clearly has a fingerprint scanner embedded in the bottom of the front panel, which fits in with comments previously made by Lenovo exec Chen Xudong that all Moto branded devices will feature a fingerprint scanner. Essentially the scanner appears to have been setup in a similar configuration to Apple’s Touch ID and the scanner aboard the HTC 10, however, what’s not yet clear is whether it functions purely as a fingerprint scanner or also doubles up as a Home key button – it is possible the handset will still use on-screen Android controls for navigation. The only other real takeaway is the return of the Motorola camera module strip on the rear, with an intriguing set of dual-dots above the sensor, and what looks like a single-LED flash below.

We’d previously heard that Lenovo will be phasing out the Motorola brand-name, but will continue to “Moto” brand for some of its new devices, and now the next-gen of Moto handsets has leaked online in a batch of photos. The images were posted to Motorola Facebook fanpage hellomotoHK6 and show a selection of Lenovo prototypes with the signature Moto design style – it’s believed the device selection includes a Moto X 2016 and a Moto G 2016. According to the source, the new phones will have some slight changes in their design despite an overall similarity to previous gen kit, particularly the higher end Moto X, which will reportedly be thinner.

The report also notes that the Motorola “M” logo is still on the rear of the device, but that’s not too surprising – Lenovo confirmed that it is phasing the Motorola name out gradually (so it isn’t going immediately), but also will retain the “M” logo for Moto devices.

It’s claimed the brightly coloured devices in the images are the cheaper Moto G, although bright colours all round shouldn’t be too surprising considering that the Moto Maker customisation functionality was expanded to include both the Moto X and Moto G in the previous generation. Will this continue with the next, or will we simply see a limited selection of colour choices or swappable backs? Time will tell.

Other things we can observe include a large camera port, which could suggest (though does not necessarily mean) Motorola has paid extra attention to improving the imaging capabilities; larger sensor sizes are becoming increasingly the norm on flagship phones. There’s also a dual-tone dual-LED flash, but that too is quite common now. We’d also expect to see a fingerprint scanner, 3GB of RAM, Android Marshmallow and a large QHD display upfront.

The image has emerged via Chinese leak site cnbeta7. Assuming this is all legit we expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of the Moto X (2016) in the coming weeks and months. Multiple reports and analysts have lambasted Qualcomm s Snapdragon 810 CPU throughout 2015, claiming it has held back nearly all top flight Android handsets, crippling them with sub-par performance compared to the company s 801 and 805 and ALL of this is before we get into the much documented over-heating issues. To be sure, the company s Snapdragon 820 has A LOT riding on it it needs to solve all the problems created by the Snapdragon 810 and add in a whole load of improvements. Most meaning, 99.9% of flagship Android handsets released next year will run on Qualcomm s Snapdragon 820 and we do not expect the Moto X 2016 to be an exception, despite Moto s penchant for using older silicon in its phones.

Early indications about the 820 s performance and features are very good, though, and we ve had plenty of briefings throughout the year about the chipset, so we re confident the Big Q will come good in 2016. And we’ve now heard8, direct from Motorola itself, that Lenovo will be phasing out the Motorla brand. That’s the Motorola brand specifically, not the “Moto” phone brand. What does this mean fro the Moto X 2016 edition? Well simply that it will probably be branded as either the Lenovo Moto X, or simply the Moto X (similar to the Huawei-made Honor brand, which doesn’t actually carry any Huawei branding).

In a January 8 report by CNET, Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s chief operating officer, explained that the firm will “slowly phase out Motorola”. The report added that the “Moto” brand will be kept for high-end devices, whie Lenovo’s “Vibe” brand will be used on lower end hardware. Lenovo’s blue logo is expected to appear on both brands.